There’s a tall electronic sign that periodically flashes Thomas J. Henry’s name or face — along with warnings to drivers not to text and drive or asking if they’ve been in a truck accident.
It’s hard not to know who he is because he is, frankly, everywhere in San Antonio and throughout Central and South Texas. His ads are on TV, radio, newspapers, websites, YouTube, billboards, etc.
Ads like this:
In fact, this story might be the only piece of media that Thomas J. Henry has not paid to have himself talked about in.
Bates v. State Bar of Arizona
Not long ago, lawyers didn’t advertise at all. In fact, it was rare for lawyers anywhere in the U.S. to advertise. Lawyering was seen as a more genteel profession — as a public service — and advertising for that service was perceived as somehow beneath it.
It was basically outlawed.
But in 1976, a pair of attorneys in Phoenix named John Bates and Van O’Steen put an ad in the Arizona Republic newspaper for their low-cost legal clinic providing services like divorces and name changes. It’s pretty tame by today’s standards — just a black-and-white, mostly text ad.
But they got in trouble.
The State Bar of Arizona told them they couldn’t do that, and the pair had their law licenses suspended. So they did what any good lawyer does: They sued.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court in 1977, where they argued the ban on advertising violated their right to free…
